This is a record of my journey as a Muslim. I used to be Catholic and belonged to a missionary organisation. After my conversion, I sat on the board of a Muslim converts' organisation and specialised in da'wah programmes, convert management, interfaith issues and apostasy cases. I am an initiate of a Sufi order. As such, the articles and writings tend to cover these areas.
All the Arabic and graphics could not have been done without the help of my wife, Zafirah.

Saturday, 15 April 2017

The Levels of Exegesis

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ
ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Shaykh Muhammad ibn
Yahya at-Tadifi al-Hanbali (r.a.) wrote, in his Qala’id al-Jawahir,
that once, Imam ibn al-Jawzi al-Hanbali (r.a.) attended a gathering of
Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (q.s.) with one of his friends. Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir (q.s.)
immediately noticed Imam ibn al-Jawzi (r.a.) because he was already a
renowned scholar. The Ghawts al-A’azham
(q.s.) began to delve deeper into the various exegeses of a particular
verse of the Qur’an so that Imam ibn al-Jawzi (r.a.) would understand
the role of taswawwuf in diving into the depths of meanings of the Qur’an.

Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir
(q.s.) gave a second tafsir, and then a third, and then a fourth,
and so forth until there were eleven levels of understanding a verse, and each
time, when his companion asked him, Imam ibn al-Jawzi (r.a.) confirmed
that he knew it.

And then Shaykh ‘Abd
al-Qadir (q.s.) gave a twelfth tafsir; Imam ibn al-Jawzi (r.a.) told his companion
before being asked, that he did not know this.
And Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qadir (q.s.) continued, giving another level
of exegesis after another, until he had given forty explanations of a single
verse. Imam ibn al-Jawzi (r.a.)
was so impacted, they say he stood up in hal of ecstasy, and exclaimed, “Laa
illah illa Allah Muhammadur Rasulullah,” and ripped his clothes; Imam ibn
al-Jawzi (r.a.) finally understood the true meaning of “faqir.”